It's an article full of factual errors but there is the whiff of truth about it all the same... http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-whos-jenna-louise-coleman-quits-4061757
Not here, but recently, I was making aspersions that Jenna had lost her newcarsmell despite spending most of her career just waiting around. 1/2 a season and a few specials, as at least three different characters in 18 months. Blink and you'd have missed her. No. Asylum of the Daleks was September 1, 2012 2 weeks short of two years. Specials - The Time of the Doctor (2013) ... Clara - The Day of the Doctor (2013) ... Clara - The Snowmen (2012) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) Regular - The Name of the Doctor (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - Nightmare in Silver (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - The Crimson Horror (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - Hide (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - Cold War (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - The Rings of Akhaten (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - The Bells of Saint John (2013) ... Clara (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) - Asylum of the Daleks (2012) ... Oswin (as Jenna-Louise Coleman) Although, looking at her IMDB, after 170 episodes of Emerdale Farm, she needed a holiday.
Frazer Hines holds the record for longest running companion, at 117 episodes. It would take someone in the modern era nine seasons to break that record.
I think it's the phrasing of the article. I'm not surprised. There's the rumor's Clara is getting a love interest, etc. So, unless they want to retread Red Head and Dying Guy... and besides, Clara is beginning to have a life on Earth, AND, her Impossible Girl puzzle piece was solved in the Name of the Doctor... I think the writing has been on the wall. Not sudden, I bet. Just time. EDITED TO ADD: This ALSO makes me believe Capaldi will be around for another series. They wouldn't let the companion AND the Doctor go at the same time. (He says... thinking back to Tennant's last episode... Hm.)
Well, the writing would be a bit shit if they ONLY applied a single story arc to her. Nothing wrong with having an ordinary companion...
We should probably hold off until we have word a bit more official than a tabloid. But, if true, I'm not surprised, this seems average run for most companions. I was predicting she might stick around for season 9 but only because I have a feeling season 9 is going to be Moffat's last season, and I wasn't expecting him to create a new companion just before he leaves the show, but I may very well be wrong on that regard.
Oh please. Verification? Pishaw. She'd dead to me. Now, if it so happens that Jena is not leaving, she will have to accept my apology in person. There's always a bigger picture.
Spoiler: season finale I think her end scene was filmed last month, her saying to the Doctor that she's fed up because Danny got converted into a Cyberman and she doesn't know what to do with the Doctor's new incarnation.
I've known that Jenna was leaving for about a month; the solicitation copy for the DWM issues for the end of the year make clear who won't be in the Christmas special. She's had a two-season run. That's respectable.
I wonder if the new companion is going to be introduced in the Christmas special or if it'll just have a guest companion like most of Tennant's Christmas specials did. I'm going to guess we won't have a new companion at Christmas, since she (or he?) would have to be cast right around now, and you know that'll steal all the headlines.
Honestly, I'd like a new companion. Maybe someone besides a youngish british woman from modern earth? As much as I like companions like Rose, Amy and Clara, a little variety would be nice. If they absolutely need to be similar to other NuWho companions, I'd hope they'd at least go for a Donna type companion, a bit older and not going to fall for the Doctor. Or, go old school and go for an Ace type companion. A younger companion who The Doctor is kind of a mentor to, but who doesn't just unquestionably follow him. Basically, I'd hope the mold could at least be stretched a bit, even if they aren't willing to break it. Heck, I'd also like to see a 2nd Doctor style guy/girl companions, but ones who aren't romantically involved with each other. Basically, I just hope they do something a bit different, and don't just replace Clara with more of the same. Not that such a character would be bad, but some more companion variety would be cool.
It'll almost certainly be someone from modern Earth, as the belief is that those are the only people the audience can relate to. Yes, classic Who had plenty of companions from other time periods and even other planets, but with the modern show, the "primary" companion has always been from contemporary times and likely always will be. The closest we got was Clara, who was originally intended to be from Victorian times, but that got re-written in the end.
^You may be right, but on the other hand, before last year, conventional wisdom would probably have been that the Doctor had to be a young, romantic lead these days -- and then we got Capaldi. So if the show was able to defy expectations with the Doctor, maybe they'll do so with the next companion too. Although I wouldn't be crazy about a season that had no female regular. Back when the Doctor did regularly have male companions, there was always a female companion as well. It would be nice to have another companion who wasn't a white person from the UK. How about someone from India or China or Brazil, say?
Well, I can always hope that someday they'll attempt to do something slightly different than what other nuWho Doctor's have done I'd be fine with keeping a female regular companion, even if she was the only companion, but they need to mix it up. Have her be from the past, or future, and don't make her even slightly attracted to the Doctor. If the show could do it in the past, and audiences could deal with it, than the Doctor Who audience in 2014 can deal with having no modern humans on the TARDIS, and having different companions.
There may be employment/visa issues about that. Though obviously there are British actors of Chinese, Indian and Brazilian descent.